YEEHAW JUNCTION -- Truckers call it "Jackass Junction," a sleepy, black slab of highway where they pull off for diesel and hot coffee. There is no school in Yeehaw Junction, no supermarket, no fire or police station, no hospital or clinic, no bank. The air is stirred only by the rumbling of the big rigs that roll through this Central Florida truck-stop community. But Yeehaw Junction is in turmoil. The quiet lives of its roughly 300 residents has been jarred by the clamoring machines of business and government, which are negotiating to convert Yeehaw Junction`s only motel into a 200-man prison.

Nobody is sure if the stowaway owl is a boy or a girl, but they know it's one lucky bird. A great horned owl remains under the veterinary care of the South Florida Wildlife Center in Fort Lauderdale after surviving a 140-mile trip along Florida's Turnpike while wedged between an SUV's front grille and radiator. It has those signature wide-yellow eyes, but it appears the wise ol' bird didn't see the SUV coming. Not only did the bird go unnoticed during the nighttime ride to Plantation, it stayed stuck in its tight spot overnight without making a hoot.

YEEHAW JUNCTION -- Legend has it that the name `Yeehaw Junction` comes from the braying donkeys of the old owner of the Desert Inn. "He bought some jackasses," said resident Bill McCarthy, who later managed the small motel, "and decided to call it Yeehaw Junction. Jackasses go `Yeehaw.` Truck drivers call it `Jackass Junction.` " The animals are still around, said McCarthy, and so is the tale. Some 40 years ago, the place was named Crossroads, for the SR 60 and U.S. 441 intersection.

A woman from the West Palm Beach-area who was the subject of a statewide Silver Alert has been found safe, authorities said on Thursday. The alert had been issued for Carmen A. Aponte, 85, who drove away from her Lake Evelyn Drive residence on Tuesday and later called a family member saying she was lost. At the time, evidence suggested she was at a hotel in Okeechobee County. According to PBSO, Aponte was found by the Florida Highway Patrol on Florida's Turnpike near Yeehaw Junction.

The U.S. government admitted Wednesday that during the height of the Cold War it conducted 27 biological and chemical tests on American soil -- including tiny, remote Yeehaw Junction. However, the information declassified on Wednesday did not address reports of earlier chemical and biological tests in Florida -- including in Boca Raton in the 1950s. The 27 cases revealed on Wednesday occurred in six states, particularly Alaska and Hawaii, as well as Puerto Rico, Canada and the United Kingdom.

The Fort Pierce toll plaza on Florida's Turnpike will be reduced to one entrance and one exit lane between 9:30 p.m. and 6 a.m. daily through Nov. 18 while work crews install a new water and sewer system at the interchange. The work is part of a $16 million program to renovate and replace eight toll plazas from Yeehaw Junction to Lake Worth.

A two-year project to widen the Lantana toll plaza on Florida's Turnpike begins today. Over the next two years, workers will expand the mainline plaza from 10 lanes to 16. During the first year, new southbound toll lanes will be built at the western end of the existing plaza. Through Feb. 18, one lane of traffic will be closed in each direction on the approaches to the plaza from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. The $9 million upgrade is part of a major effort by the Department of Transportation to upgrade eight toll plazas from Lantana to Yeehaw Junction.

Construction begins today on the renovation and expansion of the Jupiter toll plaza on Florida's Turnpike. Work will start with the placement of temporary striping and barrier walls, which will require lane shifts from time to time. Eventually the toll booths, administrative building and parking lots will be replaced, and the plaza will be expanded from three lanes to five. The work is part of a $16 million project to replace the eight toll plazas from Yeehaw Junction to Lake Worth. Five of them will be expanded.

A woman from the West Palm Beach-area who was the subject of a statewide Silver Alert has been found safe, authorities said on Thursday. The alert had been issued for Carmen A. Aponte, 85, who drove away from her Lake Evelyn Drive residence on Tuesday and later called a family member saying she was lost. At the time, evidence suggested she was at a hotel in Okeechobee County. According to PBSO, Aponte was found by the Florida Highway Patrol on Florida's Turnpike near Yeehaw Junction.

An Ocala man whose gas pedal became stuck traveled at speeds of more than 100 mph on Florida's Turnpike from Yeehaw Junction to Sumter County before crashing into construction barricades on Interstate 75. Jeffrey Michael Wood, 22, called 911 for help about 8:30 p.m. Friday from his cellular phone about five miles north of Yeehaw Junction. Florida Highway Patrol troopers gave Wood an escort and helped clear the highway of other traffic. He did not appear to be seriously injured in the crash.

It's a month later, and you're still in the doghouse for forgetting Valentine's Day. Or perhaps you're just a hopeless romantic. At any rate, you don't want to lose that loving feelin'. So what to do after the flowers have died and the chocolates have been eaten? Check out all that Palm Beach County has to offer. She has to buy a skirt, but you dread shopping. Convince her to see Modern Skirts performing March 29 at the Bamboo Room. This indie/pop group from Athens, Ga., combines melody with toe-tappin' beats.

George Brocklebank remembers well the time his Navy ship spent part of a winter off the coast of Newfoundland. From his post in the radio room, he heard stories about the planes as they flew over, sending out a mysterious long cloud miles ahead of the USS Power. Then, the ship would sail through it, sometimes more than once. Brocklebank also remembers seeing civilians in protective clothing on board, doing things he didn't know about. He and his shipmates were curious. "We would ask questions and were told to mind our own business," he said.

The U.S. government admitted Wednesday that during the height of the Cold War it conducted 27 biological and chemical tests on American soil -- including tiny, remote Yeehaw Junction. However, the information declassified on Wednesday did not address reports of earlier chemical and biological tests in Florida -- including in Boca Raton in the 1950s. The 27 cases revealed on Wednesday occurred in six states, particularly Alaska and Hawaii, as well as Puerto Rico, Canada and the United Kingdom.

It is a brief second caught on a grainy, jumpy video screen, but prosecutors say it is enough to prove that Brinks security courier Mario Martinez stole $350,000 right from under a company clerk's nose. At one point, the tape shows a First Union National Bank bag, stuffed with $100 and $50 bills sitting on the check-in counter at the Brinks branch office in Riviera Beach on Dec. 10. The next moment, as Brinks clerk Maria Hernandez's back is turned, the bag is gone. In the fleeting seconds in between, Martinez, 34, committed felony grand theft, and the videotape is the only real witness to the crime, prosecutor Lanna Belohlavek told jurors in the first day of testimony on Tuesday.

A two-year project to widen the Lantana toll plaza on Florida's Turnpike begins today. Over the next two years, workers will expand the mainline plaza from 10 lanes to 16. During the first year, new southbound toll lanes will be built at the western end of the existing plaza. Through Feb. 18, one lane of traffic will be closed in each direction on the approaches to the plaza from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. The $9 million upgrade is part of a major effort by the Department of Transportation to upgrade eight toll plazas from Lantana to Yeehaw Junction.

The Fort Pierce toll plaza on Florida's Turnpike will be reduced to one entrance and one exit lane between 9:30 p.m. and 6 a.m. daily through Nov. 18 while work crews install a new water and sewer system at the interchange. The work is part of a $16 million program to renovate and replace eight toll plazas from Yeehaw Junction to Lake Worth.

IN THE HOTHOUSE OF FANTASY that much of Florida aspires to, along comes State Road 60 -- Vero Beach to Clearwater Beach via Yeehaw Junction, Lake Wales, Bartow and Tampa -- a scenic, historic and sometimes spooky route to reality. It`s a matter of opinion, perhaps taste also, whether Highway 60`s small-town path is quicker than the Florida Turnpike and Interstate 4 between Central Florida`s east and west coasts. There is no doubt, however, which way leads to more fun because the superhighways are not meant to provide 60`s inside-the-belly views of: -- Cattle roaming the same Kissimmee River prairie where cattle grazed more than a century ago; -- Citrus empires whose groves stretch to the horizon; -- Phosphate mines and mills whose mighty industrial presence are a shock to the senses.

They spent $8,000 for an est session and found out that they don`t like Dorothy Wilken. I could have told them that and saved the county $8,000. -- Andre Fladell, coordinator South County Political Cooperative Actually, anybody could have told them that and saved the county $8,000. In fact, so obvious was the conclusion that if the exercise had been part of Good Housekeeping magazine`s famous "Can This Marriage Be Saved?" feature, the session would have been over in five minutes and the answer would have been "no way."

Plastic spiders dangle from strings running across the ceiling, dropping in on unsuspecting diners at the whim of the bartender. Two wooden Indians, with their wooden papooses, sit woodenly silent at a table in the corner. A clothed male mannequin oversees operations in the ladies' restroom. Unzip his pants and an alarm sounds throughout the bar. The sound of the alarm is not unusual. Welcome to the Desert Inn in Yeehaw Junction, in central Florida, one of the newest additions to the U.S. Department of Interior's National Register of Historic Places.

Construction begins today on the renovation and expansion of the Jupiter toll plaza on Florida's Turnpike. Work will start with the placement of temporary striping and barrier walls, which will require lane shifts from time to time. Eventually the toll booths, administrative building and parking lots will be replaced, and the plaza will be expanded from three lanes to five. The work is part of a $16 million project to replace the eight toll plazas from Yeehaw Junction to Lake Worth. Five of them will be expanded.